Tan's Titans: Christmas on Carver V
by roastpuff
Summary: Story 2 of the Tan's Titans Series. The Titans embark on a simple convoy escort and goodwill mission through the troubled paradise of Carver V. Guarding several thousand tons of supplies ought to be quite easy... right?
1. Prologue

**_Tab's Titans - Christmas on Carver V_**

**Titan Base, Harlech Spaceport**

**Harlech, Outreach**

**Chaos March PDZ**

**1345 Hours, 14 Oct 3066**

"Enter," said Major Tan from behind his desk. He looked up from the paperwork cluttering his desk to find David Dunbavand, his agent, opening the door for two distinguished-looking men, before following in himself. Shuffling his papers together, Diondi rose to greet his guests. "Major Tan of Tan's Titans. What can I do for you gentlemen?"

"Major Tan, this here is Peter Phila, and his partner James N. Thropist. They were the people I was referring to when I said I had a contract for you," explained Dunbavand. "Mr. Phila would like to discuss the terms of the contract before making a decision."

"By all means, Mr. Phila, Mr. Thropist, please have a seat," said Major Tan, gesturing to the chairs in front of his desk. David took a seat on the sofa to the side of them, watching the proceedings. "If you would like to brief me on what exactly this contract entails, it would be greatly appreciated. My agent has been decidedly close-mouthed with me about this particular subject, and it vexes me to no end. "

"Very well, Major Tan," chuckled Phila, before continuing. "James and I are the owners of a very successful chain of fast-food franchises, Bear's Burgers. However, we both came from a less-fortunate background, and we remember what it was like to be unable to eat for the majority of a week. As such, we have established a charity organization to assist those who are in a truly unfortunate situation to the best of our ability. We've been relatively successful on-planet, with the funds being channeled towards the families that really need it.

"The first major off-planet venture that we have planned is quite ambitious, however, and we feel that it needs a modicum of caution and protection. Two thousand tons of relief supplies and other goods would present a very tempting target to the bandits, raiders, and what-have-you's operating in the area that we are contemplating on going to."

"If I may ask, where is this convoy headed?" said Major Tan, his curiousity piqued.

"Carver V. We feel truly sad for the families whose lives are being disrupted by the civil war. Now that it is winding down, we feel that it is relatively safe to head there," said Thropist. "We can supply our own DropShips and transport vehicles, but we do not have combat units or experienced troops."

"We're offering rates that are pretty good by market standards, and full salvage rights," stated Phila.

Major Tan mulled it over in his mind, but he knew that it was hopeless. He knew that he was a sucker for a good charity mission.

"Gentlemen, the Titans will be pleased to provide you with an escort for your convoy."

-----

The pool table in the Titans' recreation hall saw a great deal of use daily, often with money exchanging hands. Right now, it was only Diondi and Bryce that was there; the rest of the personnel had gone into town, taking their first night out since they had returned from Batavia a week ago. Bryce was lining up his shot on the 10-ball when Diondi spoke.

"Imperator wants to sponsor us," he said bluntly, startling Bryce and screwing up his shot.

"What?" exclaimed Bryce. "You made me scratch!"

"I said, Imperator Weapons wants to sponsor us," repeated Diondi patiently.

"Like Diverse Optics did with Morimoto's Immortals?" asked Bryce skeptically.

"Just like that," confirmed Diondi. "They provide us with weapons, ammo, money, and we do commercials and PR events for them."

"Seems to be a good deal," said Bryce, lining up his shot on the 10-ball again. "The new tanks and our proliferation of cannons tends to chew through ammo and weapons pretty quickly."

"I'm just wondering whether it's still a bad thing to do though," said Diondi. "You remember the furor that the Diverse Optics deal raised when it was announced?"

"Hell yes," snorted Bryce. "It got the backs of every other mercenary unit that is less-than-honest up. And the universal cry of 'Why didn't I think of that?' from all the other honest unit."

"so, do you think the rest of the battalion'll go along?" asked Diondi in an unsure manner.

"They'd better."

/End Prologue.


	2. Chapter 1

_Tan's Titans – Christmas on Carver V _ Chapter 1 Pad 38, Harlech Spaceport Harlech, Outreach 1120 Hours, 28 Oct 3066 

Chief Gavin Tyrol watched with a gimlet eye as his crews efficiently loaded the various vehicles and 'Mechs belonging to the Titans into the _Overlord-_class DropShip "_Stalin"._ Two of the newly acquired M1A2 Abrams tanks belonging to Striker Lance were waiting patiently for an Alacorn MkVII tank to finish crawling up the steep ramp and be secured inside the vehicle deck. Not too far away, several dozen techs were clambering all over a stack of spare parts with clipboards and flashlights, making sure that all the supplies were present and accounted for. It wouldn't do for them to find out that their supply of armour was missing halfway through a 3-system jump, after all!

He could see Major Tan conferring with Captain Walters and one of the people who had hired them. Tyrol approved of this charity mission, and the way that the Titans were taking it. Many of the Titans' personnel had been offered opportunities to do advertisements for various companies looking to cash in on the public goodwill of the venture, and the money to go with it. Most had refused to take the pay for themselves, diverting it instead to several charities like Oxfam or World Vision. The Fighting Females had even done an ad for free for the Solar Cross! The stunning female pilots had been the most sought-after group of Titans personnel for the advertising agencies, and they hadn't been able to go out into town without being mobbed for their autographs. Luckily, most of them had decided to take it in stride, and teased each other about it.

Watching the loading vehicles out of the corner of his eye, Tyrol checked out his PDA for what was left on the to-load list. The Major's _Turkina _was at the end, preceded by Captain Robertson's _Gladiator_. Arguably the two most powerful 'Mechs in the inventory of the Titans, and in the Inner Sphere, they were always the first ones out during a hot landing in order to help secure the landing zone. They had done such a drop once, and it was an awe-inspiring sight to see the two massive mechanoids working together as a team to clear out the LZ.

"How did they get those 'Mechs, anyways?" he muttered to himself. "Not something you'd find around the next corner even on Clan worlds." Making a mental note to ferret out from someone how the CO and the XO had acquired their 'Mechs, Tyrol went down to check the inventory process.

-----

Diondi stood by the hatch as the last of the convoy's extra personnel came through, followed by Peter Phila himself. Raising an eyebrow at Phila's packed bag and traveling suit, he gestured for Phila to follow him into the bowels of the DropShip.

"Are you planning on coming with us, Mr. Phila?" asked Diondi in an undertone. "I don't think it's a terribly good idea, considering of where we are heading, but you're the one writing the checks."

"I appreciate the concern, Major, but I really think that I should be with the convoy. What good does it do if I sponsor it and don't put any personal effort into it?" replied Phila. "I'll make sure to stay out of your way, and out the doctors' way, when I'm here. And I've been in combat situations before – I fought during the early stages of the invasion. James will be perfectly alright handling the business by himself."

"That's good then," agreed Tan. "Where did you fight the Clans at? I'm interested in sharing war stories; I didn't get to hear much about the other battles other than what you hear on the Tri-D, and I don't trust reporters all that much."

"Sharing war stories, eh? Not a bad idea. I'd like to know where you got that beast of a machine of yours. You don't see very many of them outside of a Jade Falcon Galaxy," retorted Peter. He waved to the acceleration couches, strapping himself into one next to a porthole. "I was in the AFFC in 3050, and I got posted to the border near the Free Rasalhague Republic with the 21st Arcturan Guards. As you probably know, the Republic was a target of the Ghost Bears, and the Jade Falcons took on the Lyran portion of the Commonwealth. Our unit was fighting them on almost every world from here to Tharkad before we got reinforced enough to completely halt them.

"I was PBI then, and the Staff Sergeant of an infantry company. We'd be fighting in and out of the cities, ambushing the Clanners whenever we could. I probably sprung more than two-dozen traps on my own that ended in successes, but it cost us a lot of men and material.

"Later on, I was part of Bulldog, still as PBI. The Jade Falcons loved to use the 'Mech that you have right now, and by God we learned to hate the 'D' variant. The nastiest city fighting design in a 95-ton machine, or so it seemed to us. The _Gladiator _that your XO has frightened the daylights out of us too. An assault 'Mech moving at 120 klicks an hour? A PBI's worst nightmare, I tell you.

"What about you? What did you do? You look a bit young to have fought in 3050."

"I was a part of Operation Serpent," said Diondi, closing his eyes and reliving his experiences. Memories swirled and surged within him, threatening to engulf him. "My company was on the first wave down."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

_Diondi initiated a status check of his Thanatos again, checking that each and every system was nominal. Giving his radar board a cursory glance, he scanned the telltales and confirmed that they were all green before looking out of his cockpit window. A heavy company of the 2nd Davion was arrayed before him, waiting for the Smoke Jaguar response to the incursion. The crummy weather wasn't helping any; visibility was down to fifty meters, and missiles were going to be reduced in effectiveness. Diondi could barely see the company commander's Rakshasa ahead of him, still in the dusk gloom. _

_The sudden appearance of two red dots startled him, shaking him out of his reverie; another eight, making it a binary coming towards them, followed the two. None of the others had to be told; they knew what was going to happen and what they had to do. _

_His company commander opened fire first, picking a Thor as his opponent. The rest of the company followed his example by picking a single 'Mech each; they didn't want to break zellbrigen first. Diondi picked an opposing Cauldron-Born and let loose with his ER Large Laser before closing the distance. Narrowly avoiding the reply shot of a Gauss rifle, he let loose with his large laser again, scoring a jagged gash on the Clan 'Mech's legs. The Clanner pilot bracketed the LRM flight and his LBX autocannon perfectly, catching Diondi right in the breadbasket. The big 75-ton Thanatos stumbled as three-quarters of a ton of armour sloughed off its centre torso, but continued it's run. _

_This time, Diondi added both of his ER Medium Lasers to the shot, and destroyed all the armour on the left arm, wrecking the autocannon inside. He twisted his torso so that the reply laser-and-Gauss-rifle salvo merely nicked him, and took the skies on flaming jumpjets. The MRM-20 salvo he let loose at the apex of his jump peppered the Clan 'Mech with explosion, and made the squat 'Mech stagger as its' armour was vaporized. Unwilling to let the Clanner recover, he pushed the throttles to the stops, and let loose with an Alpha Strike. One of the ER Mediums missed low, but the rest burned off the armour on the right torso. _

_Displaying incredible control, the Clan pilot loosed his entire remaining complement of weapons at Diondi, hitting with every single one of them. Diondi's left torso was completely devoid of armour, and his heat spiked as the engine shielding was damaged. The ER Medium Laser and Guardian ECM unit housed there were turned into shards as the Gauss round forced it's way through, and the left leg was down to tatters as the rest of the weapons stripped it of its armour. _

_Cursing under his breath, he twisted his right torso forward to shield his vulnerable left side from incoming fire, and replied with another MRM salvo that pushed the Clan 'Mech over onto it's back. Using his jumpjets, he arced through the sky to land less than an arm-length of the 'Mech struggling to stand up with a wrecked right leg. Using his lasers, he burned off the other leg, making sure to stay out of the firing arcs of the thrashing 'Mech. Narrowly avoiding a Gauss rifle shot, he stomped on the arms of the Cauldron-Born, completely disabling the 'Mech. _

_Panting heavily, Donovan looked up from his opponent to survey the battlefield around him. All the Clan 'Mechs were down, fortunately, though all of the Davion Guard 'Mechs were heavily damaged; four 'Mechs were down for good with destroyed gyros or engines. Diondi cringed when he saw the blackened stumps of a Penetrator that he knew belonged to the company XO. The company commander's Rakshasha was missing both of its missile launchers, and it had a pronounced limp in its gait, probably the result of damaged leg actuators. _

_A beeping from his battlecomp alerted him as his HUD painted five more targets onto his screen, and Diondi gulped as his Warbook identified them as a Star of assault 'Mechs. All of them were in the 90- to 95-ton range, with about twice as much firepower as their 'Mechs, and in pristine condition with unblemished armour. _

"_All units pair up and take them down quickly before helping others. Disregard zellbrigen," commanded the company commander. Diondi moved to the closest 'Mech next to him, an Orion that he knew belonged to Bryce Robertson, a good friend of his. Wordlessly, he gestured to a Gladiator with his 'Mech's arm, receiving a nod of assent from the Orion. Pointing his arm at the now charging 'Mech, he let loose with his large laser, followed by the Orion's Gauss rifle. The bright green beam lanced into the 95-ton Clan machine's left arm, and the Gauss round into the centre torso. With an arcing jump, the Clan 'Mech sought to get closer, and activated its MASC system as it landed, bringing it to a frightening speed of 120km/h. Moving twice as fast as the two Inner Sphere 'Mechs, the Gladiator charged its way through the muddy battlefield, firing its Gauss rifle and ER PPC at the Orion, which staggered as the return fire stripped more armour off of it. Diondi let loose with the remaining lasers and the MRM rack, shredding about a ton and a half or armour off with little effect on the Assault 'Mech; it could take much more punishment before even starting to feel bothered. _

_Unbelievably, the Gladiator suddenly froze up and skidded to a halt, reduced to a hobbling gait. It's MASC system had seized up! Diondi felt like crowing in triumph as the limping 'Mech attempted to fire on them, missing by a fair margin, and Bryce's return shot caught the cockpit and crushed it completely. Pilot-less, the hulking mechanoid fell over and buried itself in the mud. _

_A laser shot burying itself into his already-destroyed left torso reminded him that the battle was not over. Twisting over to face his new foe, he saw that it was a Turkina, a 'Mech that was favoured by the Jade Falcons; very strange to find one on the Smoke Jaguar homeworld of Huntress. Moving his 'Mech as fast as he could in a zigzag pattern, Diondi fired off a reply shot with his large laser, melting a scar into the Galaxy mark on the 'Mech. Stuttering beams of lasers lit up the night like a strobe, and played on his battered Thanatos' torso, punching new holes in the paper-thin armour and making his heat spike more as two heatsinks were destroyed. Bleeding coolant, the Inner Sphere 'Mech gallantly kept up the charge, firing it's lasers again and again. As he got into the MRM rack's range, he lifted it up and fired a full salvo at the protruding cockpit area. _

_Bryce was also shooting his Gauss rifle from the distance, but it was a devilishly difficult shot, and his crippled 'Mech could not close the gap in time. Diondi was on his own. Igniting his jumpjets, he was surprised to see the Clan pilot match his move before remembering that the Turkina was one of the few 'Mechs that mounted them as standard equipment. His missiles struck the rising 'Mech, blooming wreaths of fire down its torso as it rose on flaming beams of plasma. Several must've struck the cockpit glass and rattled the pilot, because the bigger 'Mech wavered for a moment before continuing it's rise. As the two 'Mechs met with a resounding 'clang!' in mid-air, Diondi used his arms to batter the bigger 'Mech as they were falling together, and fired his torso-mounted lasers at point-blank range into the heavier 'Mech. The Turkina's weapon pods battered his Thanatos in return, bashing whatever was left into scrap. The head-mounted pulse laser stuttered beams of coherent light at him, and Diondi winced as the framework surrounding his cockpit was vaporized. _

_Gasping as the leaking reactor flushed heat into the cockpit, Diondi fired the torso-mounted lasers again, stabbing deep into the heart of the Clan 'Mech. Using what was left of his head, he head-butted the bigger 'Mech, and managed to shatter the cockpit glass on the bulbous torso. He could see the Clan MechWarrior in his command couch, snarling madly as the two warmachines battled each other. _

_Deciding to go for broke, Diondi activated his jumpjets and aimed them behind and upwards of his Thanatos. The jets of plasma pushed his 'Mech forward against the Turkina, which slowly tipped over as the pilot tried to compensate for the new momentum. The two 'Mechs landed in the churned mud on the Turkina's back with a wet squelch, and waves of the viscous material surged up around them. Shards of the cockpit canopy rained down from the Thanatos as gravity overtook whatever tenous hold that the frame had on them, and Diondi could only watch in horror as a large shard embedded itself into the screaming Clan pilot. _

_Panting with exertion, Diondi rolled his 'Mech off the Smoke Jaguar 'Mech and found himself looking up at Bryce's smoking Orion, which had just arrived at the scene of the battle. Weakly, he raised the Thanatos' laser arm to acknowledge his lancemate's arrival. _

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"So that's how Bryce and I have such… interesting 'Mechs," concluded Diondi. "Our rides were so trashed, we used the salvaged Clan 'Mechs for the rest of the campaign. Parts and ammunition were of no problem, with the amount of battlefield salvage there was coming in every day, and we got good use out of them. By the time we decided to get out of the AFFC, we'd earned the rights to those 'Mechs. We found other veterans who didn't want to fight in a civil war, and we banded together to make our own mercenary force, where we would only take honorable contracts."

"That's a good idea," agreed Peter. "Too many units take whatever contract they can get, no matter what the cost or harm it will do to their reputation. Only the bigger units can afford to pick and choose who they want to work with."

"Well, we're always glad to help out on missions like these," replied Diondi. "I'm always a sucker for a good charity mission or two. I guess it's the Batavian culture; we were brought up with the idea of always lending a hand to someone in need, no matter what."

"That's nice to know," said Peter. "We'll be sure to call your unit up next time we need another escort for a relief mission. What opposition do you think we'll be facing in Carver V?"

"The situation there has calmed down considerably," mused Diondi, "But there's plenty of bandit and rogue units on the planet that wouldn't mind getting a piece of the nearly two thousand tons of goods that you have in the Buccaneer flying next to us."

Any further conversation was interrupted by the deep rumble of the Overlord's fusion thrusters kicking in. Both men grunted as they felt their weight increase, and they were pressed into the acceleration couches as the massive DropShip began to lift off from the launching pad. They could feel the ship vibrating as it worked to free itself against the constraints of gravity and escape this world. Slowly turning his head, Diondi could see 'Sneaky Paws' do the same, the Intruder's belly sprouting a dazzling tongue of fusion flame. On the other side, a Buccaneer hired by the convoy to carry their supplies was lifting off, though it wasn't visible to Diondi or Peter.

The three-DropShip convoy burned towards the zenith point, and the waiting _Invader-_class JumpShip that would carry them for the single-jump journey to Carver V.

-----

The two BattleMechs stood silently, facing each other across an empty field of wheat that swayed in the brisk wind. Diondi shifted his Turkina's footing a little, and prepared for what was to come, uneasily licking his lips. A counter was projected onto his HUD, counting down from 30 seconds to zero, and he waited for it to tick down patiently. Bryce was in his _Gladiator_ opposite him, as motionless as the Aztec statue the 'Mech resembled. _Five… four… three…two … one… GO!_

With blurs of motion, both 'Mechs erupted into action. The Turkinarose on its jumpjets, neatly evading the triple large pulse laser salvo that chewed the air where it used to be seconds ago. The tail end of the salvo was hastily corrected to splash onto the legs of the Turkina, barely marking the armor, when it returned fire. The return fire of a pair of PPC's and a pair of Gauss rifles landed accurately onto the Gladiator, making it stagger as approximately two tons of armor were either shattered or vaporized off of it's torso. Deciding to forgo subtlety, the Gladiator sprinted forwards towards the Turkina, which had just landed from its evasive jump. Unable to dodge, the 95-ton 'Mech hunkered down as another 95-ton charging piece of war machinery moved at 86km/h towards it, firing a quartet of medium lasers that burned off armor on the right torso.

Incredibly, the pilot of the Turkina decided to try a mad-cap maneuver, tilting his 'Mech forward and using the last vestiges of his jumpjet charge to push the mechanoid forwards to collide with the charging mass. With an incredible 'clang!' the two kings of the battlefield met in an astounding crash. Both machines seemed to be fused together, unable to move, as they tipped over to one side and fell flat onto the ground.

Diondi groaned as the cockpit finished moving, moving listlessly as the harness straps dug into his chest. That was going to be a pretty bruise come tomorrow. He noted that both Gauss rifles were now out of commission, having only fired a shot each, but the ER PPC's and the targeting computer had survived the fall admirably. Looking up, he glanced at the opaque cockpit glass of the other 'Mech, and triggered the PPC's at point-blank range. The expanding balls of plasma whipped furious streams of light into the air as it ate through the armor of the Gladiator, and Diondi winced as heat rushed into his cockpit. Some of the heatsinks must've been damaged by the fall, he realized. Moving his right arm – the free arm – he used the mangled mass of the Gauss rifle barrel to beat at the other 'Mech, causing large indentations to appear.

The other pilot must've awakened as well, as he began firing the quartet of lasers housed in the Gladiator's torso into the Turkina. Luckily, the arm containing the three main large pulse lasers were buried deep into the ground, else Diondi would be eating coherent light right now. Aiming carefully, he fired his PPC's again before striking with the makeshift battering ram in his hand at the exposed head of the Gladiator. With a 'crunch', the Gladiator's cockpit caved in at his blow, resulting in everything going dark.

A trophy appeared, with the words 'You have won… Ego +1' super-imposed over it, and Diondi chuckled at the techs' weird sense of humor. Breathing heavily, he cracked open the seal of the sim-pod and relaxed as the cool cargo-bay air rushed in. Disconnecting the neuro-helmet leads, he racked it on top of the command couch, and slapped the quick-release of his harness. He stood up and stretched – and blushed when the assembled crowd before the main screen cheered.

"All right, all right, that's enough!" he yelled back. Shaking his fist at them, he climbed down to find Bryce already waiting for him. "Forty-two to forty, isn't it?"

"That sounds about right. You're getting better with that lumbering machine of yours, though I do have to say that jumpjet tackle move was never put into any book that I ever saw at the academy," commented Bryce, a big grin on his face.

"Don't be such a square," retorted Diondi, running a hand through the wet hair plastered to his head. "Half the fun in sim-pod combat is making up crazy moves."

"Crazy sounds about right, too. You destroyed my gyro when we collided," said Bryce, shaking his head. "That, and almost all my heatsinks in one go. Plus trapping my arm on the ground."

"What can I say? It let me win, didn't it?" Diondi exclaimed, a raised eyebrow accompanying the mock-superior tone. Ducking under the friendly punch, he used his elbow to dig into the enormous Scot's side.

"Re-entry in one hour, all crew members please take note," blared out the loudspeakers. "Prepare for re-entry. Secure all gear and get to your seats. That is all."

"We'd better shower before we hit atmosphere," said Bryce. "I don't fancy showering in a martini shaker."

-----

The three DropShips touched down without any fanfare at the Bellacqu spaceport, and began unloading. As the Titans' combat units erected a perimeter guard around the three precious DropShips, Major Tan had _Stalin_ broadcast a message over wideband, detailing their intentions and routes. When he was satisfied over the lack of any opposition, the three MASH units that came with the convoy started setting up at the spaceport's tie-down apron, which was currently empty. Soon enough, the populace of Bellacqu City began streaming in to receive treatment and medical check-ups.

Thirteen doctors and thirty-five nurses from the various Outreach hospitals had volunteered to staff the three MASH units on loan from the Dragoons and the Eridani Light Horse, and they'd been accompanied by several hundred tons of medical supplies donated by various pharmaceutical houses. Setting up a twenty-four schedule, they were kept busy seeing after the needs of the citizens; most were healthy, and just needed a check-up, but there were so many of them. The different lances took turns visiting the various orphanages around town, and they handed out the donated toys and gifts with stern admonitions not to open them until it was actually Christmas-time. Several lucky children won the prize of getting a joyride in the Karnov transport VTOLs, and a miniature helmet signed by the Fighting Females, who had become the new idols of the girls in town.

After two weeks in Bellacqu, the convoy started to move on the planned route that brought it through most of the towns and villages along its way. They were greeted warmly by the inhabitants, who were glad for the medical attention coming their way. Supplies had become scarce as the civil war dragged on, and people had been forced to make do.

Strangely enough, there had only been a few harassing attacks by the local pirates and bandits, that were easily fended away by the Titans. Firing a warning shot or two usually got them to move away, never to return again.

Peace, on Carver V, however, wasn't meant to last.

A/N: Thank you for waiting so patiently for this update… Real life decided to come and jump on me. So, instead of being written during the summer, as I envisioned, this piece will end up being written in the same season it is set – winter.

This chapter is a slower piece, designed to get the set-up done for Chapters 2 and 3, which will showcase the Titans' defensive capabilities.


End file.
